The Great Raid

Synopsis

Set in the Philippines in 1945 towards the end of WWII, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Henry Mucci and Captain Robert Prince, the 6th Ranger Battalion undertake a daring rescue mission against all odds. Traveling thirty miles behind enemy lines, they intend to liberate over 500 American Soldiers from the notorious Cabanatuan Japanese POW camp in the most audacious rescue ever.

Set in the Philippines in 1945 towards the end of WWII, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Henry Mucci and Captain Robert Prince, the 6th Ranger Battalion undertake a daring rescue mission against all odds. Traveling thirty miles behind enemy lines, they intend to liberate over 500 American Soldiers from the notorious Cabanatuan Japanese POW camp in the most audacious rescue ever.

Tech specs

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by eckmanmj-1 10 / 10

Pleasantly surprised...

I knew almost nothing of this film before I saw it but based on a
couple comments I had heard, I went with my dad to see it tonight.

Some people commented on how slow the movie is during the beginning,
and although that is true, it is there to give you time to develop a
story and actual care about the characters. This is definitely not a
movie for people with near zero attention spans from the MTV
Generation.

This movie also doesn't rely on gimmicks such as CGI or what I call
"shaky camera syndrome" where the filmmakers insist on making the
audience nauseous by running around with handy-cams (ala Bourne
Supremacy).

I really enjoyed the story and thought all the roles were well acted.
The final raid scene is amazing. They did a really good job of
explaining exactly what they wanted to do beforehand and when it
actually happened, you understood where everyone was running to and
what they were trying to accomplish.

Excellent movie, and highly recommended. Definitely one of the best
movies so far of the year, I'm just sad that almost no one has heard
about it and the movie has received so little promotion. I doubt this
picture will even make $20 million here.

And one more thing, I thought it was a very tasteful and respectful
thing to do at the end during the credits where they showed archival
footage of the real soldiers being rescued.

Reviewed by jackov 9 / 10

Good movie, good ensemble cast

Old fashioned movie with an ensemble cast instead of A list powered star who uses the movie as a vehicle to command top dollar is rare these days in Hollywood. That's why this movie worked. They assembled a great cast of fine, top notched actors together from the USA and the Philippines but no "superstar". They all portrayed their characters and meshed out the story without any modern day politicking and criticism. I don't know about you but that is truly refreshing in this day and age of movies.

I'd recommend this movie to anyone. Major criticisms seem to be that there's no deep complex characters and no protagonist. I think that is a positive for this movie because the POWs are the main characters themselves. The men and women just did what needed to be done for their countrymen and their country. There was deep motivation because someone had been scarred when they were 15 and thus acts this way. Most of the characters are real life people and you can't focus on one or two characters like in a fictional story that someone wrote.

It's too bad this movie won't do well at the office because it doesn't cater to the teens and their expendable income. The limited wide release also won't help it but I know for those who watch it they'll be touched. They'll know that there were and are sacrifices being made to ensure that the country they live in are safe and protected.